Printing in Las Vegas

Article
Oct 9, 2012

For the last three years, with the combined assets of Dalim’s (Booth 229) TWIST, MISTRAL, and DIALOGUE serving as its production backbone, Creel Printing has produced the Christian Science Monitor, a weekly newspaper with a circulation of 63,600.

This past winter, the Christian Science Publishing Society (CSPS), the Monitor’s publisher, expanded its relationship with Creel, basing its decision on the printer’s ability to consistently meet the complex production requirements of its flagship publication. Creel handles the prepress, printing, versioning, and distribution of its print, mobile, and flip book editions.

“Our performance and our turnaround—using the Dalim Software platform and with the help of Blanchard Systems—played a big role in acquiring the additional CSPS publications,” says Allan Creel, President.

History in the making

“This is the first time in 50 years that all of the society’s titles have been under one roof—and that was when they were producing the publications themselves,” says Allan Creel. “This is an historical event for them and for us.”

The society transformed from an internal prepress facility handling its entire prepress page processing to an external operation with Creel.

The Dalim workflow automates the prepress tasks using JDF, explains Chris Evans, VP of Pre-Media and Customer Solutions. “The speed at which we can process pages, plus the ease of use of approving pages, has really streamlined the workflow process,” says Evans. “We used to push through 100 pages per hour—we can now process up to 600 per hour if we have to. The Dalim platform has changed the way we do business.”

JDF integration is key

TWIST is driving the workflow, while MISTRAL and DIALOGUE handle imposition and page approval. A key factor is JDF integration, says Evans.

“With JDF we can integrate our templates into the imposition,” says Evans. “When projects are set up, we create JDF templates with a link to the Dalim workflow. Pages are automatically imposed within the system and the PDF files are automatically flattened for the plating process.”

Adds Evans, “We currently have enough horsepower to process over 3,000 pages per day.”

Creel also publishes the Daily Racing Forms. “We landed the DRF using the Dalim Software,” says Evans, because of the Dalim platform’s ability to automate all the prepress tasks.

The automation allows Creel to receive files at 3:00 pm daily, and be on press at 5:00 pm. By 8:00 pm the product is printed; delivery is completed by 6:00 am the following morning.

In addition to the publication work, Creel prints a lot of short-to-medium catalog and direct mail projects. “Our run lengths are typically around 25,000 to 100,000, so we are under a lot of pressure to produce jobs quickly, without errors, and get plates to the pressroom fast. Our Dalim platform has assisted in this process as well,” says Evans.

Because of the streamlined workflow, says Evans, Creel didn’t have to add additional personnel after it acquired the new work. “The system has allowed us to maintain our head count, and be able to produce twice or three times as many pages in past, even more.”

This ability, says Evans, was also a big part of “our presentation when we met with CSPS to acquire their business.”

Looking ahead, Evans explains, “We are in the process of upgrading to ES 3. As part of our agreement, we will move the page approval process to mobile platforms, such as the iPad, using Dialogue Touch.” Adds Evans, “We are looking forward to upgrading. This will allow us to provide all of our customers with the ability to review, collaborate, and approve pages via their mobile devices.”